


Cor Tutor

by snafumoofins



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: College AU, F/M, Modern AU, Tutor AU, stalker!saundor, tutor!percy, vax is confused on who he wants to be with and vex is /so/ over romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2017-01-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 09:29:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9117805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snafumoofins/pseuds/snafumoofins
Summary: When Percival Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo the Third agrees to tutor a student for Professor Hydris' statistics course, the last thing he expects to find is a witty, stubborn woman who's not only completely intriguing on her own, but also has a handful of strange friends, including a giant bear and a terrifyingly protective older brother. Least of all, the last thing he expected was to find that she was the woman who'd approached him on the street the previous day, proclaiming him to be her boyfriend in front of her obsessive stalker, a man named Saundor.





	1. Chapter 1

“I’m not meant to be here, brother. I should be out in those woods with Trinket, _free as a bird_ ,” her singsong voice and jazz hands only draw a groan from behind her. The skilled,  _brotherly_ hands braiding her hair grip into her locks and give a tug that evokes a yelp from Vex’ahlia. “ _Dick_ ,” she mutters, crossing her arms tightly over her midriff in an _ever-so-adult-like_ manner.

Vax'ildan only sighed, pursing his lips lightly, “When Syldor sent us here, he didn’t give a _fuck_ what we made of ourselves, Vex’ahlia,” she cringes at the mention of their father, “He wanted us as far the fuck away from his new, perfect family as he could and I’m sure the last thing he expected us to do was get _here,_ or at least, get _you_ here.”

Admittedly, in the beginning, finding the footholds to attend university had been rough.  Vex and Vax had certainly made do with the deft hands they were born with, only running into the authorities on a few occasions. It'd taken a few years of hard (and often, illegal) work for them to find enough money to buy Vex'ahlia a place within the college and live a decently comfortable life in the meantime. They'd made do with the shitty financial aid offered to them and tried to ignore the fact that Syldor (the _fuckhead_ ) could’ve afforded to place them both within the university with no major loss to his finances. Shitty fathers aside, Vex and Vax had rejoiced that they had the chance to make something of at least _one_ of them, as one's success was a shared happiness between the twins.

She’d always wanted to become a park ranger, ever since she was young. Vex'ahlia always wanted to protect the land that she’d grown up on, the rocks she’d scraped her knees on, the trees she’d learned to climb bare-footed. Most of all, she wanted to protect Trinket, but she’d never expected that she’d be sitting with goddamn _statistics_ homework in front of her. She was studying environmental sciences, she should be _in_ the sciences, not in complete _duress_ over the mishmash of numbers and figures on the pages in front of her.

While, _yes_ , Vex _did_ quite enjoy Professor Hydris as a person and would _love_ to get her completely head-over-heels _wasted_ sometime, she did _not_ enjoy the way she drew up horrifyingly confusing equations on the board. She _definitely_ did not enjoy how most of the class seemed to understand it, while she struggled to resist the urge to flip her desk and scream.

“I don’tget it, brother. What the _ever-loving_ _fuck_ does this have to do with _nature_? It’s not like I’m going to be counting birds or some _bullshit_ like that,” she moans, woefully passing the elastic band from her wrist to her brother as he gives her newly crafted braid a tug.

“Dunno,” he shrugs, quickly tying off her hair. He expertly hops to his feet without any use of his hands, walking across the living-room/kitchen/bedroom of their small, shared flat to check his mobile. “What I _do_ know is that Shaun’s expecting me and I don’t want to be late,” he tells her, rolling his eyes as her face furls in delight at the mention of _Shaun_. “Oh, _Gilmore_ ,” she sighs dreamily, resting her cheek against her clasped hands as she bats her long lashes. “Of course you can’t leave _Gilmore_ waiting, can you?” she coos, haphazardly nudging her statistics book away from her with her foot.

“Drop the shit, Stubby,” Vax’ildan huffs, jerking on his black pea-coat (the coat is so _sulky_ and _moody_ ; completely _perfect_ for Vax, in her opinion), “It’s _work._ Don’t fuck around with school, okay? You’ll work it out. You’re _fucking_ stubborn, but you’re smart,” he walks over and leans down to press a kiss upon Vex’s head. “Try tutoring or some shit, yeah? They offer it for free. You know how we feel about freebies.”

Vex hides a smile under her hand as she rubs her nose, nodding compliantly, “Free shit is always good. Get out of here, give your boyfriend a kiss for me, all right?”

Vax stiffens at that, pausing to flick her forehead with his forefinger before expertly dancing away from the rebutting swing of her fist. He grabs the keys to his bike-chain and gives them twirl, shooting Vex a stern glare, “He’s _not_ my boyfriend, _twit_.”

“ _Oh_ , is it Keyleth now? You’re so adorably _bi,_ brother,” Vex grins ear to ear as her brother manages to cringe down into his jacket, so hesitant to talk about his relationships with her, his _sister_. _The travesty of it all!_

“What it is isn’t your goddamn business, yeah?” he shoots her a wide-eyed look of faux-annoyance (or maybe it  _is_ real, she doesn't know)  before he’s out the door, leaving her to her misery.

Gilmore’s her favorite, really. When they were barely scraping by on the little money Syldor left them, literally taking free-samples from the grocery store for fucking _dinner_ , Gilmore found her brother, offered him work. Of course, it wasn’t all entirely legal, but Gilmore was known for his merchandise, entirely legal or not. Though he acted it, the man wasn’t much older than them as it was (Vex'ahlia was quite the elderly college junior), and he _was_ glorious, as marketed. His sonorous tone and grand motions always had her on her toes, and not to mention the way he could make Vax _blush_. It was all too good.

He'd kept Vex doing some "recon work" for him, as he called it, but every so often, she'd tag along with her brother. They were always at their best when they worked together, but Vax had gone solo after she'd been dragged into uni.

She didn’t regret it, though, the uni part. She did, however, feel a horrible amount of guilt for Vax’ildan’s sacrifice. He claimed it made him happy, that their mum would’ve wanted this, but it _was_ at his expense, really.

She knew Vax wasn’t a college kid, knew he’d get sick of all the curriculum bullshit and the _pushing_ from professors, but he did seem happy to be working for Gilmore, seemed happy to be around her friends from school (especially Keyleth).

Reverie wasn’t going to finish this horrible studying, though. With a grumble, Vex’ahlia flipped open her well-worn, brick of a laptop, pulling up her statistic class’s homepage to inquire about tutoring.

She fucking _hated_ the idea of it, but at this point, the book seemed to be in an entire different language and she _wasn’t_ going to waste Vax’s money on a shit semester.

On the bright side, it gave her the chance to communicate with the one and only Zahra Hydris (they would _totally_ be best friends by the end of the semester).

 

* * *

 

“Percy, darling?”

Pervical Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo the Third, jerked his head up from the book he’d been devouring (mentally, of course), feeling a lurch of impending doom as he spotted Professor Hydris at the edge of the table he occupied.

This certainly wasn’t going to be good. Not only had Zahra found him outside of class hours, but she’d found him in his secluded corner of the library with a smile on her face that was anything but hopeful for him. Still, he wasn't entirely sure he'd _ever_ seen a smile on Professor Hydris' face that offered any form of good fortune. She was the type of woman whom held a smile that was more of a baring of teeth, not exactly friendly, not exactly promising. He recalled freshmen spreading rumors that she'd had her incisors sharpened on purpose, though Zahra probably started that rumor herself.

She did love to terrify freshmen and Percy couldn't object to that particular practice.

“Can I help you, Professor Hydris?” Mentally, he sorted through _what_ he’s done lately. He was flying through her Research Methods course with bravado, he hadn’t fallen asleep in the student lounge for thirty-four hours since last year (he’d not slept an entire three days from working on studies of his own and studies for school before _that_ particular hibernation) and he _certainly_ hadn’t started a fire in the science center’s lab since freshman year.

Zahra’s smile/teeth-baring eases up a bit at the hesitation in his voice, planting one hand on his occupied table and the other on her hip, “Remember when I said I'd forget that you fell asleep in class if you'd tutor for me in the beginning of the semester?” she questions.

"...Yes."

"Remember when I said I'd probably never need to use you as a tutor anyway, so it was a... _gracious_ deal...?" she winced lightly.

 _Ah_.

Percy didn’t even remember _how_ she’d convinced him into _that_ in the first place. The idea of holding the slimmest chance of tutoring someone, someone who was entirely capable of being an  _asshole_... _How_ had she convinced him into that, anyway? She’d probably humbled him to the point of accepting without even quite realizing, _damn her._

She takes his pause as the opportunity to continue, giving a soft huff of amusement, “It appears our patron-saint of tutoring is absolutely _swamped_ ,” Professor Hydris tuts softly, momentarily glancing about, probably for freshmen to terrify (they do call her the Dragon for a reason), before returning her piercing blue eyes to Percy. “ _Anyway,_ on top of her normal studies, Miss Trickfoot is well over her head with students to tutor and I was hoping you could take on _just_ one student for me?” again, she winces lightly as she asks this, as if she understands the sacrifice it’ll require for him to actually _mentor_ someone.

Percy _does_ have plenty of free time this semester, admittedly. Enough for him to tinker, at least. The idea of mentoring a stranger, a potential  _asshole_ , spikes his nerves, but still, if it means he's on her good side, it means he could get away with a few more naps after sleep-deprived nights of plotting. “I suppose I could,” he slowly says. It might not be so bad, really. He’s not one to attempt to meet new people; meeting his only friend in the entire school, Keyleth, had been at her own expense, but he might as well have a go. This stranger/potential asshole might even be of use to him.

“ _Oh, good_ ,” Zahra sighs, as though a weight has been lifted from her shoulders. She sinks into the seat across from him, rummaging through her messenger bag for a moment. “Her name is Vex’ahlia. A third year student in stats. I don’t know _why_ , but apparently she’s required to take my course, even though she’s aiming to become a park ranger. Haven’t a clue _what_ she’ll use it for, besides organizing a study on _birds_ or something, but she reached out to me this morning, completely at a loss on what she’s looking at. While I'd love to knock her into a lower level math course, she _is_ in environmental sciences, park ranger or not,” she explains, sliding a sheet of paper over to Percy. “Her number and email are there, I’ll leave the meeting times to you.”

Percy slides the paper closer with his index finger, nodding his head in response to Zahra as needed as she speaks.

“If she’s absolutely _done for_ , let me know, but she’s a firebrand, at least from the few times she’s asked me for help,” Hydris wears a fond grin on her lips, eyes glossing over. Percy can’t imagine Zahra being anything _but_ a firebrand at his age, probably had a chain of men behind her, to boot (he quickly wipes _that_ particular mental image from his mind).

“I’ll contact her and see what I can do to help,” he assures, folding the paper and tucking it into the breast-pocket of his shirt.

" _Thank you_ ," for the first time, she has an honest-to-Gods _smile_ on her lips as she looks over to him. Percy can't help but wonder if he's truly been initiated as a senior now that he's earned a smile from Zahra Hydris, but before he can ask aloud, Zahra is standing up and bidding him a good afternoon, bustling down towards the stairs.

Percy considered texting _Vex'ahlia_ then and there, but the moment he flipped opened his ancient mobile, he was distracted by the array of texts from Keyleth, all including a ridiculously appropriate amount of emojis for her personality, and Cassandra, who was hoping that he could pick up dinner from their favorite takeout place.

He'd set up a meeting time later, he supposed. For now, he'd sit, read and pretend that he had no pending judgement to make on Vex'ahlia (still a potential asshole).

A buzz from his phone had him opening it again with a heavy, weary sigh, noting Keyleth had texted him, _again_ (she's a mother hen and he should expect this, he supposes).

" _I'm coming to find you to bestow bagels upon you :)"_

He hardly has time to sigh again, mourning the loss of a quiet afternoon of reading (companionable moments of silence have been long lost ever since she'd met her new crush, Vax'ildan) before Keyleth is approaching him, one arm precariously holding two sealed cups of what he's hoping is coffee and the other, a bag of the apparent bagels-to-be.

She nearly spills both as she sinks down into the seat adjacent from him with a loud sigh, dropping the cups towards him and thankfully, it _is_ coffee (how she doesn't mind the scalding heat against her bare arms is unknown to him, but her dedication to cutting the sleeves off of everything she owns is admirable).

"So, Vax and me talked again," she tells him with a bob of her head. The look on her face isn't exactly confident, though Keyleth isn't very confident to begin with, and Percy knows he'll be here awhile.

Honestly, he'd never tell anyone, but he's a little happier to spend the afternoon sitting, listening and pretending that he has no pending judgement to make on Vex'ahlia (the potential asshole).


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Vex heads home after a long chat with Pike, Saundor enters the scene. Percival and Vex meet for the first time and it's entirely unconventional.

“I don’t _know_ , Pike, _Percival de Frankenstein Von Muscle Claws-out-seat de Rolo the Third_? He obviously _must_ be a completely _loaded_ dickhead if he’s got such a long fucking name. Vax and I probably ransacked his place a few years ago, probably stole his prized _pocket watch_ or _ugh_ -” Vex cut off in a frustrated growl, aggressively tugging at her braid as she sank down into her seat a bit.  

Pike, glancing up from her textbook, offered a sympathetic smile, shrugging her shoulders, “Oh, I don’t know, Vex,” she sighed softly, brushing some stray strands of her blonde hair behind her ear, “It might not be a bad thing, you might just make a friend out of it.”

“Or I might just make a rich little fuck _bleed_ ,” Vex spits out, crossing her arms tightly over her chest, the very image of a petulant child. He’ll probably be just like all the other rich little fucks from “home,” who mocked her and her brother at every turn for their attempts to fit in and then for their attempts to stay as far away as they could from their little niche cliques.

Pike covered her mouth to hide her smile at Vex’s current, pouting state, though her dimples gave her away anyway. “Well, I wouldn’t judge him _too_ harshly,” she offers, taking a bite of the bagel she’d bought before trudging to the library. “I’ve never met him personally, but he seems to carry a lot of weight with him. He and his sister lost their entire family in a fire, you know.”

Vex rolled her eyes as though that information didn’t matter. S _he_ and _her brother_ lost their mother to a fucked up _murderer_ , but you don’t see _them_ asking for pity.

“He’s not asking for pity, though,” Pike says, reading her mind because, of course, Pike knows her and all of their friends better than anyone (or even themselves), “I just know that from what I’ve heard.”

Vex’ahlia flips through her textbook, pretending to give a shit before finally, she’s giving a loud groan of defeat, “ _Fine_ , I won’t chicken out, but I _will_ find you to complain when he’s fucking _gushing_ about money or he turns out to be a _complete_ creep.”

Pike makes a soft, popping noise with her lips as her eyes flare, surely searching for the right words to scold Vex’ahlia for jumping to conclusions, but when she sees the twinkling mirth in Vex’s eyes, she falters. “You can’t joke with me like that right now,” she weakly informs, soft, platinum waves bouncing as she shakes her head, “My brain is just… _completely_ fried and it isn’t even midterms.”

Vex offers a sympathetic smile as she reaches over, rubbing Pike’s shoulder supportively, “You’ll charge through this semester like you always do. Nursing _is_ just one giant battle to get through, isn’t it?”

“Oh yeah,” Pike sighs, her scrawny shoulders seeming to deflate as she slumped forward. Vex knows that being the mother hen of their little rag-tag group of friends doesn’t help her studies either, whether it’s from Grog coming to her to question her about itchy balls for “his friend” or Scanlan _drooling_ all over her.

Thankfully, Pike is always level-headed, even when she’s bogged down.

“I’m going to head home and find out whether my brother’s _still_ at Gilmore’s or out with ‘ _his Kiki_ ,’” she retches a bit, clumsily snatching her bag and dragging it from the table as she stands.

“Well, whoever he’s with, it’ll do him some good,” Pike pointedly arches a brow as she glances up over her book to Vex.

“He _might_ be sleeping with them _both_ ,” Vex dramatically groans, whipping her bag over her shoulder. “I can’t fucking understand him, sometimes, Pike. Love is _shit_ ,” she kicks the leg of the chair she’d previously been lounging in to push it back into the table, resulting in a squeak that has a few, annoyed glares from other library-goers directed towards her. “ _Fuck off_ ,” Vex mutters, scowling.

Pike only looked at her with those easy-to-read eyes, clearly throwing out an “I’m worried about you” gaze that has Vex twisting her lips in frustration. “I _don’t know_ ,” she exasperatedly bit out, “I’m _happy_ that he’s getting out and _being with_ people, but I’m also his detached Siamese twin and I miss him sometimes,” Pike’s full attention is on her now, though she’s lightly nibbling at her bagel. Her eyes soften and fill Vex with reassurance that what she’s saying _isn’t_ insane. Pike is one of the only people she can actually _talk_ to, anyway. Grog wants to talk about drinking, football or bashing faces in, Scanlan wants to flirt with his foul limericks, Keyleth wants to talk about her manic-pixie thoughts about nature and Trinket, well, Trinket can only listen and wuff.

“I’m afraid he’ll stop telling me things, I’m afraid he _has_ stopped telling me things.”

Pike waited a few beats after this to be sure Vex had fully ranted before, in the way Vex and their other friends often mimicked when Pike wasn’t there, said: “ _Well_ …” she took a few seconds as she searched for words before giving Vex a smile. “I think you’d certainly do well to tell him that, but maybe not so…”

“Pissily?” Vex offers with a weak grin, and Pike nods.

“I’m sure he’s not keeping you out of the loop, anyway, but it might be awkward to talk about his love life, you know?” she offers.

“Yeah, you’re right,” there’s less of a weight on her chest and she’s grateful for that. Vex pushed her bag’s strap further up her shoulder and gave a nod. “You usually are, anyway. I’ll be off, then. Text you later and try not to drown in books, yeah?”

Pike looks visibly relieved to have helped in some way and bobs her head, smile brightening. “Yeah. I’ll try.”

Vex exits the library, scowling faintly at the cloudy sky before setting off-campus for her and Vax’s flat.

She was nearly finished with untangling her headphones when she heard a sudden, echoing pang of footsteps behind her. Unbidden paranoia had her glancing over her shoulder, and it wasn’t useless unbidden paranoia either.

His pale skin and his oaky brown eyes had a way of making her stomach twist and the way his greasy, slick black hair clung to his face made her skin crawl.

She’d never come across a person who made her so uncomfortable. Sure, Syldor brought forth tsunamis, but never a discomfort as this.

Saundor.

Vex quickly surveyed the area; thankful that she’d forgone any alley shortcuts and stuck to the open sidewalk.

She was also thankful that there was no chance Vax would happen upon this.

It’d all started a year ago, when she’d gone on a class trip between her Advanced Earth Sciences course and Keyleth’s Writing With Nature elective (to go to the forest once a week _just_ to write seemed entirely boring to her). As Vex had eyed the group, as she always eyed any groups or persons around her, she noted Saundor, slinking far and away from the rest of the students.

Vex, tired of Keyleth’s not-so-inconspicuous questions about Vax, had approached him. She was always fond of outcasts, having been one herself, and knew it’d be her good deed of the day to chat up the pale, pale boy.

Vax always insisted they should be guarded, always said that most people wanted the wrong things from them. Meeting their group of friends (or rather, the S.H.I.T.s  as they’d called themselves for that one karaoke contest) had been a completely chance occurrence, and a good one, at that.

Vex, of course, _did_ love doing the opposite of what he said.

And so she spoke with him, briefly, about his course. It was for her own benefit, really, as she was curious as to _what_ they even wrote about.

Immediately, she realized Vax was right and she’d been horribly stupid.

“I feel as though I’ve known you for a very long time,” Saundor had told her, ignoring her question entirely, and the meaningful intensity of his gaze still made her cringe to that very day.

She’d immediately stuttered out a horrible excuse, something along the lines of: “ _I think my friend needs help getting a leaf out of her hair,”_ and hurriedly left.

Needless to say, she was happy to endure Keyleth’s dreamy, dedicated soliloquies about the trees that day, though Saundor watched her the entire time from afar.

It hadn’t ended there, of course. After snooping about, Saundor found her name, her social media, messaged her on every possible platform for weeks. He told her of his intense feelings of her, described how she appeared to him the first time he saw her on that trip, tried to convince her that they were ‘destined’ for one another.

Vex had simply blocked him, but he found her cell-phone number next, called her when she wasn’t around and Vax, being the asshole he was, had answered the phone and immediately confronted her after Saundor demanded to know who he was and why he thought he had any worth to Vex, who belonged with him.

She’d told him everything, and while Vax was entirely pissed off for a day (she knew it reminded him of the reason why he’d joined that shit little _Clasp_ gang when they were young), he’d bought her a switchblade and made her promise to keep it close, even though he knew she already had the pepper spray he’d bought her when she’d been far younger.

Things had been quiet for a few days, but eventually,  they’d found a stick on their doorstep with a rudimentary carving of a very Vex-like woman and Saundor-like male. After that, Vax had insisted upon walking her to class for a week, and eventually, thankfully, Saundor had gone away.

But now, he was here again, following her with those disgustingly sad eyes.

“What the _fuck_ do you want?” Vex hissed as she turned on her heel, mentally reminding herself that her switchblade was in the front pocket of her messenger bag if he got to close, and her pepper spray on her keychain if he pissed her off from afar.

“I only wanted to see you; I missed you,” Saundor said in his soft, melancholic rumble of a voice.

“You don’t _know_ me,” Vex immediately retorted with ire, not at all phased by the way he forlornly tilted his head at her, as if he didn’t quite _get_ what she was saying.

He moved closer, until he was at least two feet away from her and offered a chilling smile, his hand extended towards her, “You _do,_ though,” he said, “We have a deal to make, one that will help us both. I understand your pain, your mother-“

Vex’s horribly-contained-cool completely shattered, melting into a molten, livid rage, “You don’t fucking _know_ her, you don’t have the _right_ to speak of her!” she spat out, nostrils flaring and eyes blazing. Her fists were clenched so hard that her nails left half-moons upon her palms, body trembling with the urge to charge, to bash his fucking face in. The fucker had probably found the fucking newspaper articles of her murder online, probably poured over _every_ little thing he could find from fucking Google.

“I know enough to know that we are meant-“

Vex phased out, forcing her mind to ignore his aside to glance around at their surroundings, at…

A head of stark, white hair approaching caught her eye and immediately, Vex was moving past Saundor towards the man, no, _student_ with white hair (she’d ponder over _why the fuck_ he had white hair later) and a long navy colored coat.

“ _Darling,_ ” she cooed, to the stranger’s obvious befuddlement. Ignoring his confusion, she reached for his hand that wasn’t clutching a bag and gripped it tightly in hopes that he’d understand _something_ wasn’t right. “I’m glad you caught up with me.”

“I’m…” the stranger’s blindingly blue eyes studied her for a moment, his brow furrowed lightly before he looked past her to Saundor. “I-I’m glad too?” he asked unconvincingly.

“Of _course_ you are, dear,” she crooned, turning to look to Saundor, who, thankfully, looked entirely confused. She hardly knew him and she knew this could be bad, that he could _act_ upon his possible rage, but she had no problem beating the ever-loving _shit_ out of him herself. “I was just giving this stranger directions to the university, but I didn’t expect you to surprise me like this!” her tone is so honeyed and _drenched_ with sweetness that Vex wants to either vomit or scrape the sugar from her tongue with a hot knife. Still, it’s the kiss she places on the stranger’s scruffy, peppered cheek that has her reeling from her obscenity. The poor man takes it though, his face flushing into a lovely shade of pink. “I-I,” he stutters, his hand trembling lightly in her grip, “I wanted to- _ah_ …surprise you,” he repeats, lifting his other hand with a bag that she recognizes as take out. Judging by the distinct, spicy smell, she can only conclude that it’s from Jarret’s place.

“You brought me takeout? Oh, _darling_.”

The stranger looks to the bag and then her, suddenly wearing an expression that’s honestly hilarious in that moment, a look that clearly states: “ _Don’t you even think about it.”_

But she does.

Vex turns to peer over her shoulder and fucking thankfully, Saundor has vanished. She immediately drops the stranger’s hand and knowing fully well that she’s an asshole, she takes his bag of takeout.

He stutters adorably as she walks down the sidewalk with purpose, her free hand finding her can of pepper spray, just in case Saundor’s waiting for her around a corner.

“W-Wait!” he calls as he finally figures out how to form words, and she rolls her eyes before glancing over her shoulder, giving him one of her trademark winks before calling: “Thanks!” 

She needs to take a long, hot shower to get Saundor’s grimy words off of her, completely devour her unexpected spoils and not mention a single fucking thing to Vax.

 

* * *

 

 Just after she’s fallen asleep past midnight, after a long, struggling session of trying to understand _some_ of her stats homework so she wouldn’t seem like a total idiot for her tutoring session, her phone vibrates.

With a single, squinting eye, Vex noted a message from Percival, plugged into her contacts as “The Tutor” with an eye-rolling emoji resting beside it.

When she opened her phone to view the message, she wasn’t sure she was even fucking awake.

_Miss Vessar_

_I’ll be happy to work with you tomorrow, as requested, at two in the afternoon._  
Please find me on the second floor of the library in the corner behind the large stack collection.  
Have a good evening.

_-Percival Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III_

For a long time, Vex stared at her phone screen, lips parted and eyes wide open in confusion.

With numb fingers, she replied with a simple “ _Ok. Thanks,_ ” before she promptly rolled onto her side and broke out in guffawing laughing.

She laughed until she was “ _hoo_ ”ing for breath, her stomach pinching and her eyes watering.

 _Who_ in the world wrote texts like they’d been sent by raven? Honestly, it was _adorable_.

“What the _fuck_ , Vex’ahlia?” Vax groaned from his nearby mattress, the thought of _why_ she was laughing making her snicker to herself.

“Oh, nothing. Go back to sleep, brother,” she sidled further down under her covers, holding her phone to her stomach for a moment before returning it to the floor beside her mattress.

She had to admit, she felt a bit better about walking into the library to meet Percival the next day after that text, or rather, intrigued.

 

* * *

 

 

The next day, before class, she’d spent a bit of time on her bulking laptop to search his name up, pleased to find a social media account. Before school, during the days her and Vax struggled for a foothold to let her study, she’d done a similar form of work for Gilmore. He’d send her client names and she’d find everything she could online, all with the purpose of gathering Gilmore all the information on them as she could so he could successfully barter or appeal to them.

The only profile on Percy contained no pictures of the man in question, though, instead, his profile picture was a sketch of a mask with goggles and a long, dark beak. It was odd, but it had her keen on meeting him. Vex liked odd people (not the _Saundor_ kind of odd), her entire group of friends had their oddities about them. She’d rather be as far from the aristocratic, snobby children who mocked those who were different and be _with_ the different.

Vax, of course, hated her easygoing feelings on strangers, always insisted that she _needed_ to be more wary of people and insisted upon this even more after the Saundor-incident.  .

As Vex walked towards the aisle of over-sized books, she felt a mild trepidation, wondered if she was about to meet Saundor the Second, or perhaps someone even worse.

Shaking off her worries and touching a finger to the small blue feather hanging from a chain upon her neck as she always did when anxious, Vex stepped behind the rack.

When she spotted a head of white hair in disarray, her eyes blew wide open.

_Fuck._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, wow. Like, w o w. Thank you all so much for the support like, it made my entire week! 
> 
> Second off, that little shit literally stole our poor Percy's takeout dfjsodfjd
> 
> Things to note: 
> 
> No beta, so I may have missed a fumble or two reading over this chapter myself. 
> 
> Vex is in her "I don't trust you with my brother so I'm going to act annoyed with you" stage with Keyleth. 
> 
> Writing Saundor gives me the creeps. 
> 
> Percy is never going to let Vex live this down. 
> 
> Please let me know what you thought :))


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percival has had many strange circumstances thrown at him, but this is a strange circumstance that just seems to keep giving.

Percival had known many odd days in his life, many days that had him questioning if he was truly awake and alive, or rather, if he was simply in a some kind of horrible, twisted nightmare.

He’d felt that way, at least, at eighteen, as he stood in front of a roaring, invasive monster of a fire that had consumed his home and the majority of his family. He could still hear the screams of his sister as she struggled in his arms to break free, as though she could put it out with her own with her own tears and fists. Cassandra had always been braver than him and he wouldn’t doubt that now, she _could_ put out a fire with her bare fists if needed. Back then, however, she had been small and fragile, shaking in his arms like a leaf. Percival could still feel the smoke furling into the back of his throat, making a home there deep within his flesh as he let out a raw, enraged roar.

This evening, however, had been different from those fiendish memories.

The rest of his stay in the library had involved him attentively listening to Keyleth vent about Vax and how horribly _hard_ it was to read him. The majority of the time, Percival sat in silence as she wildly gestured into the air, offering what little advice he could when she gave a pause (it wasn’t _good_ advice, though. He hadn’t much experience in terms of “ _dating_.”)

As unconfident as he’d felt in his advice, Keyleth had seemed to feel a bit better and thus, _he_ felt bit better too. It was hard to come across people like Keyleth, who were perfectly content with sitting in a comfortable silence and brimmed _life_ and _enthusiasm._ They were opposites, he knew, but it took a negative and a positive charge to connect, didn’t it?

He’d left to pick up dinner for him and Cassandra at Jarret’s Exotic Foods (the amount of _spice_ that man used was nearly a travesty. Nearly. His innate ability to level out spices to the point of nearly being unbearable and both _addictively wonderful_ was still unfathomable to him) and made his merry way to their apartment.

Percy had happily been within his own thoughts, as he usually was, when he noticed a young woman and man stopped in their tracks ahead of him, the man earnestly speaking towards her while her posture seemed to be as rigid as a well-supported beam.

Before he could speculate further, the woman caught sight of him and briskly turned towards him. He’s sworn he’s seen her around campus before, one of the many faces that are vaguely familiar to him. Her eyes attract his immediate attention as she comes towards him, nearly aggressively. Aggressively enough that he almost trips on the uneven sidewalk as he slides one of his boots back to evade her charge.

Her eyes, though. They’re sharp, _immensely_ sharp. It’s funny, really, he thinks, that he’s so focused on the way they _seem_. Most men notice a woman’s eyes for being _‘strikingly blue’_ or ’ _warmly brown_ ,’ but he’s standing here noticing the _way_ of them. She’s _confident_. Her lips tug in a sudden smirk that unnerves him completely, like she already owns him without even knowing him, like he’s just putty in her hands.

It’s nothing like Dr. Anna Ripley, nothing like Delilah Briarwood. He thinks of their faces, meticulously pinned upon the wall in the back of his closet, from newspapers, from the images he’s located online. Their smiles curve in a way that would make one feel as though they owned them and intended upon crushing them, scorching their fleshy muscles from their body, and whittling their bones into small toothpicks to pick their flesh from their grinning, white teeth, but this… _this_ is different.

“ _Darling_ ,” she’d cooed at him, like she wholly _adored_ him. If only she knew the rampant, dark, _horrible_ thoughts in his head! If only she knew what he’d do if he had Anders, Ripley, Delilah or Silas before him in that moment.

The entire exchange had been _horribly_ awkward, resulting in _theft_ of his takeout.

Percival had been entirely sure to glare as hard as humanly possible at her as he saw the thought upon her face, something along the lines of: “ _Ah, this appears to be takeout, and by the significant, spicy smell, Jarett’s takeout, no less. I think I’ll be taking this, thank-you-very-much.”_

And she had.

He could’ve stopped her, but he didn’t.

He’d only stood there, watching the stranger happily strut away, bag swaying in her clawed grip, noting that the other stranger, the man, had disappeared.

Percival hastily returned to Jarett’s, re-ordering and seating himself at one of the tables with his fingers steepled as he brooded over his misfortune.

“Come now, chum, turn that frown upside down, ay?”

Percy jerked his head up to eye a rather short young man with a charming smile (though not as bewitching as the _takout-thief_ ’s) and a rather dashing maroon beret.

“I..?” he gave the man a confused look before noting the bag extended towards him. _Ah_. “ _Ahem…_ Thank you,” he murmured, taking the bag and entirely disregarding the previous comment made. _Chum?_

By the time he’d arrived home, or rather, in the flat he and Cassandra shared a few minutes off of campus, it was dark.

Cassandra, of course, was seated at their kitchen table, her face pinched in concentration as she meticulously underlined a passage in the heavy book open atop the table.

Percy patiently stood in silence before the table, waiting for her to finish underlining before placing the bag down before her.

“It’s nearly seven, Percival,” she shot him a severe glare over the top of the takeout bag before slowly reaching in to locate her dinner.

“I apologize,” he gave a curt nod, sighing heavily, “I-ah…had _quite_ the time getting this back,” he hoped she wouldn’t pry. It seemed wholly pathetic to be robbed of _takeout_ , especially by a woman wearing an oversized shirt with a _bear_ face printed upon it (the “I hate Mondays” beneath said bear face hadn’t helped the ridiculousness of the situation).

“Well, it’s still warm, at least,” Cassandra brushed a brown and gray-imbrued lock of hair from her face as she opened her container, giving a contented breath. “Still, thank you. You haven’t a clue how hungry I am.”

“Hungry work?” Percy questioned as he reached in the bag for his Styrofoam takeout box, nodding to her book.

“I only need to memorize fifty fleshy judiciary laws for tomorrow,” she disgustedly swept her gaze down upon her open textbook before digging into her curry.

For a moment, he’s unsure if he should try to inspire her with “ _brotherly advice_ ,” but self-loathing immediately diminishes the thought. _What good are you? You couldn’t even save her from those years with the Briarwoods. Why would she want **your** input? You can hardly manage **yourself**. _ The back of his throat ached and he realized that his takeout box was squeaking under his grip.

“I…” he slowly glanced from his hand to Cassandra, looking to him with a confused furrow of her brow. “I’m going to eat,” he says, his chest twisting with guilt as she musters a weak smile and nod for him.

Wanting to evade any further _fucking up_ , Percy quickly made his way towards the hall.

“Oh, and Percy?”

His steps halted entirely, Percival glancing back to Cassandra.  

“Do refrain from staying up all night trying to find more links, won’t you? You’ve squeezed everything as dry as it can be. Sleep will help you more, at this point.”

More self-loathing flooded his chest, weighing it down and making it hard to breathe for a moment. He was **_pathetic_**. He should be the one telling Cassandra to take care, his _younger sister_ , but she’s the one telling _him_ to take care.

Weakly, he clears his throat, “I’ll try. You do the same,” his anxiety diminishes a bit as she manages an honest smile, nodding.

“I know us both well enough to know there’s a good chance we _won’t_ listen to each other, but it’s worth a shot.”

She’s right, unbearably so, and he wishes he could tell her he loves her, but he can’t bring himself to do so. She doesn’t deserve such a pathetic love from him, nor does he deserve it. All he’s brought upon the poor girl was stress

Percy resumed his walk to his room, carefully closing the door behind him before moving to his closet.

He pushed his hanging clothes (a lovely mixture of obscure band t-shirts, heavy coats, and sweaters; the entirety of his wardrobe either black or a dark navy blue) to the side so he could properly view the mass of information on the back wall.

Articles upon articles, pictures upon pictures, all pinned and covered in yarn lines, meticulously linked together.

The plethora of string all led to the center of the wall, creating a macabre sort of sun. Upon the center, a newspaper clipping was carefully pinned to the wall. “ ** _Tragic Fire Wipes Out Majority of de Rolo Family._** _”_

Percy steps closer, touches the picture included with the article of a nearly-grown boy with harrowed, wide-eyed stare standing next to a younger girl with the same, shell-shaken expression upon her face. Behind them, he could faintly make out the smoke lifting from the remains of their home, even in black-and-white.

He wishes he could go back in time to them, wishes he could snatch them both away from the incoming social workers, the long discussions with adults who either looked upon them with sadness or with greed. He still remembers standing on the street as the Briarwoods drove away with Cassandra. Her hair had still been brown, then.

He had been alone, he had been alone with money, but he was alone and the people who he _knew_ had _something_ to do with the murder of his family had his sister.

“I know I expected it, but this doesn’t look like ‘taking it easy’ to me.”

He startled and jerked up, looking to his side to find Cassandra, giving him a cool, skeptical stare.

“I- _erm_ …was only thinking,” he lamely excused, sighing a bit as the excuse fluttered aimlessly in the air above her head, completely ignored.

Cassandra extended a hand, disdain on her face as she offered him the box of cigarettes he’d forgotten to bring with school to him that day.

But still, she provided them to him. She understood his necessary darkness.

“Thank you,” he curtly nodded to her with a solemn gaze as he took the pack.

“Please rest tonight, Percival. I promise we’ll have our day, but don’t lose your mind to insomnia beforehand. And do eat your food before it goes cold?” she worriedly looks over him and her expression is enough to spur him into placing a hand upon her shoulder.

“Yes, mother,” he sighs heavily for effect, a bit contented to see her manage another smile.

“You’d be a wreck without me here to dawdle behind you,” Cassandra lifts a brow before taking a step back. “At least eat before you worry yourself to sleep,” he doesn’t miss her soft sigh after requesting this.

“I will,” he vows and waits for her to slowly make her leave before tapping a cigarette from the box she’d passed him.

Percival sat upon his bed for a long while, inhaling and exhaling smoke as his eyes glared towards the mass of information upon his closet wall.

 _Fuck_.

He snapped from his near-trance as he recalled he had a student to tutor, scrambling to locate his phone and write a cordial text to _Vex’ahlia,_ the potential asshole.

Pleased with his sent text, Percy reached over for his takeout, recalling Cassandra’s stern expression with a faint smile before delving in.

He was certain between studies for mechanical engineering and pouring over his closet like he could find some hidden code within the papers he’s read over-and-over, he _wouldn’t_ be sleeping much that night.  

 

* * *

 

“ _You._ ”

Percy was the first to speak, after taking in the way her surprised expression literally “slipped into something more comfortable,” or rather, slipped into a calm, challenging smirk.

His voice was a hiss and his eyes his eyes accusatory, finger crooked out towards her from his seat.

At worst, he expected that, perhaps, the student he would be helping would be completely, irrationally stubborn, or perhaps rude, or perhaps an _asshole_.

He didn’t expect them to be the _very_ vexingly ( _now literally_ **_Vexing_** ) attractive _asshole_ who’d stolen his dinner the previous night.

“ _Yes_ , me, _‘darling’,_ ” she was ridiculously _cool_ about this entire situation, even with his obviously _pissed_ stance. Vex’ahlia whipped her braid over her shoulder before dumping her bag onto the table he occupied, sinking into the seat adjacent to him. Percy ridiculed the entire thing, the way she slouched down in her seat and crossed her legs, twiddled with the end of her braid, chewed rather aggressively on her gum.

He would’ve admired her lacks of shits given in a different situation, but right now, he was entirely sour about his lost takeout. Vex’ahlia lifted her sharp gaze to his and immediately rolled her eyes (at his expression, perhaps). “ _Oh_ , stop it,” she swatted at the air in front of him dismissively, “The stomach wants what the stomach wants, can you _blame_ me? It was Jarett’s!”

She _did_ have him there; Jarett’s food was masterfully crafted, even for quick takeout. The _spice_ of it all… _snap out of it, man!_ She’d entirely _wooed_ him again already, hadn’t she? Speaking to him so fluidly, as though they were good friends! ~~~~

~~Not that he would mind that.~~

“I _do_ blame you. You _stole_ it,” he slowly replied after a heavy, outraged huff.

“ _Ugh_ ,” Vex’ahlia rolled her eyes again and dropped her cheek to rest upon her fist, looking at him with- _was that interest?_

“ _Fine_. I’ll buy you some _fucking_ dinner. I’m not one to give my money to _anyone_ , so you’d better understand how _lucky_ you are,” she snapped her gum, crinkling her nose.

Percival tried to pry his thoughts from how ridiculously _sweet_ her face looked with her nose crinkled- _you’ve only **just** met her for the…first… **second** time and you’re already bewitched-_ and managed a _very_ good scoff in reply, “How lucky am I that a _thief_ is going to _refund_ me? Would you like me to pay for shipping and handling as well?” he primly questioned with a quirk of his brow.

Percy visibly startled a bit as she let out a loud guffaw, followed by a boisterous laugh that made his insides writhe in delight that he’d said something that was, in her opinion,  _funny_.

“Fine, _freaking_ fine,” she reached out with the hand that wasn’t propping her cheek aloft and slowly, he took it, pleased by her firm, businessmen’s shake. “Obviously, I’m your student-thief, thief-student, whichever you’d prefer, but call me Vex, yeah?”

“Vex,” he repeated with a slow nod. “My name is Pervical Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo the Third-“

Vex smiled inwardly, softly muttering: _“-and you killed my father, prepare to die_ ,” and Percy barely contained a proper _laugh_ of his own. She caught this, a smug grin on her lips as she slowly drug herself into a proper sitting position. “So, _Percy_ , shall we?” she motioned to the statistics book, his old statistics book, sitting in front of him.

He was about to object to the nickname, but he knew she’d only charm _that_ off of him too.

It almost felt a little invasive, how quickly Vex’ah- _Vex_ was whittling her way into his brain, plucking his ire, his personal nickname, and even his _wits_ from him.

 _Gods_. She was entirely quick on her feet, entirely maddening, entirely _bewitching_ , entirely attractive, and a bit of a nerd.

He was entirely _fucked_. 

As fucked as he was, though, he _did_ manage to aid Vex’ahlia in her homework for that week. Professor Hydris did love her extensive statistics programming, so most of their session was spent sitting side-by-side in front of Vex’ahlia’s _very_ large laptop.

Percival forced his mind not to reflect on how very _close_ they were to one another, nor did he let himself nervously tap his foot, afraid he’d bump her leg. He did, however, note the scent of her, unlike any other. There was a hint of spice to it, along with the scent of pine needles and freshly chopped hickory. It wasn’t like Keyleth, who usually, unintentionally whipped his face with her long, fiery mane when turning to tell him something. Keyleth smelled of flowers and earth, Vex smelled of secrets and woodlands.

As expected,  she was stubborn. Many times she’d stretch her arms out across the table and land her forehead against it with a _thunk_ , like an ornery toddler, other times she’d moan and groan about until he pointedly jostled her back to attention. She listened though, well, _most_ of the time, she did. At some points her eyes would wander, or she’d find something of interest in her hair, but he’d clear his throat and she’d be back with him.

After an hour, Percival decided, despite the initial theft, she _wasn’t_ an asshole.

They’d only just gotten past the programming assignment before Vex’s phone buzzed from her phone. “Sorry, _sorry_ ,” she rolled her eyes as she caught his lifted, skeptical eyebrow. Snorting softly, she flipped open her phone. Percy watched her silently mouth the text as she read, suddenly alarmed as her expression broke into complete _panic_.

“I… _fuck_ , I…I need to…” she stood up so abruptly that her chair flipped back, grabbing her bacg and looking around wildly. “ _Fuck!_ ” she spat, slapping a hand to her brow, “Vax has the _fucking_ bike I…”

Percival blinked a few times, wondering if there was merely another “Vax” in their university or if this was Keyleth’s “Vax.” _No, no, no._ This wasn’t the time to think of such things; she seemed to be in absolute _shambles_.

“ _Percy_ ,” she whipped her gaze to him, a hopeful, relieved smile on her face that made him feel all _too much_.  She was looking at him like he was a goddamned _miracle_ , like her life _depended_ upon him and it felt like _too much_. “Do you have a bike, darling?" she squeezed her hands together, Percival startled to see them _shaking_.

“Ah a bicycle,  _yes_ , I do,” he didn’t always feel like walking to class, after all, especially when he’d spent most of the night awake, pouring over old information in his closet. “Do you intend upon stealing it too?” he added, despite himself.

“ _No!_ I mean… _maybe?_ Could you do me a _huge_ favor? I mean I _know_ we’ve only really just met but I _really_ need a ride to the forest, like, _right now_ ,” she literally bounced on her feet, like a dog that _really_ needed to relieve itself. “It’s an absolute emergency, could we..?”

“Say no more,” he said, surprised at how even his voice sounded. Percival quickly threw his long jacket on and threw his bag over his shoulder before leading the way from the library.

Luckily, his bike was chained up nearby. After Percy seated himself he paused, glancing over to Vex, who seemed to be taking in the bike with _awe_. He’d spent many, many hours on the bike, gathering pieces from various junkyards across town to create a brassy, vintage bike compiled of all styles of piping. It wasn’t sleek, nor was it conventionally beautiful, but he adored it.

“It was project,” he explained, clearing his throat as he patted the rear-rack behind him. “Hop on. I’ll need to know where we’re headed.”

He was entirely thankful that he could face away as she daintily sat side-saddle on the rear-rack, for the moment she slipped her thin arms around his waist, his cheeks flushed. He should be better mannered than this, more _suave_ , but here he is, blushing like a schoolboy.

“Can we _go_?” Vex’s irritated voice brought him to the present and he bobbed his head.

“O-Of course. Where did you say we were headed?”

“The forest.”

And so he pedaled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cliffhangers, cliffhangers, and more cliffhangers! 
> 
> So yeah, Vex totally threw the Princess Bride pun in at Percy and Percy's totally annoyed with her but also really crushing on her already and she's got some big business to deal with in the forest and they're both Dorks and I love them okay? Also that was totally Scanlan working for Jarret (cough) do you spice? (cough)
> 
> Thank you all for the support, like honestly, it makes me teary eyed and smiley and dfisdjfsdjfod. As usual, I checked this over on my own, so please let me know if there are any ugly mistakes or let me know what you thought! :) 
> 
> My semester has started up again so I'm afraid my updates won't be quite so speedy. Thanks for putting up with me!

**Author's Note:**

> So I got this idea in my head a week ago and it was like Scanlan sang me a sweet, sweet song about myself for inspiration dice or something because I am totally in love with writing this.
> 
> Anyway, I’m not entirely familiar with environmental science majors and I’m sure they don’t actually take statistics, but I also know that colleges love to put you in classes that aren’t your major and then blame you when…yaddayaddayadda. But yeah, don’t expect this to be 100% accurate for a legitimate park ranger hopeful.
> 
> Trigger-wise, I don’t think anything majorly /bad/ will be happening in this fic besides the whole stalking aspect. If that changes, I will leave a warning for sure.
> 
> As for the use of uber italics with Vex, it’s just how I hear her voice in my head and with Vax and Kiki and Gilmore, welp, who knows what that lil raven rascal will choose?
> 
> This is my first Critical Role fic and I’ve no beta, so please tell me how I’m doing! x


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